In fact, without the union of these two elements, civilization would stop. half way; mere external advantages are liable to be lost or abused without the aid of those more refined and exalted studies which tend to improve the mind, and call forth the feelings and affections of the heart. It must be repeated, civilization consists in the progressive improvement of the society considered as a whole, and of all the individual members of which it is composed.
The means by which this improve ment of the whole of a society and of all the members of it may be best effected, will vary somewhat in different countries. European nations consider and call their social state civilized, and they view the social states of other countries, which do not rest on the same foundation, either as barbarous or as less civilized than their own. An impartial observer may allow that if we measure civilization by the rule here laid down, the nations of Eu rope, and other nations whose social sys tems have a like basis, are the most civi lized. The civilization of Europe and cf the nations of European origin is founded mainly on two elements, the Christian religion and the social state which grew up from the diffusion of the power of the Romans. The establishment of feudality in many countries greatly affected the social basis ; and the consequences are still seen, but more distinctly in some parts of Europe than in others. The ele ments of such a social system are es sentially different from those on which is founded the system of China, of the nations which profess Mohammedanism, and of the nations of the Indian pen insula. European civilization is active and restless, but still subordinate to constituted authority. It gives to man the desire and the means to acquire wealth at home, and it stimulates him to adven ture and discovery abroad. It seeks to assimilate the civilization of other nations to its own by conquest and colonization, and it is intolerant of all civilization that is opposed to itself. Asiatic civilization is at present inert, it is not in a state of progress, and is exposed to the inroads of European civilization. European civi lization has been and is most active in increasing the power of states as states. and in increasing their wealth; it also gives facilities for men of talent and en terprise to acquire wealth and power by means recognised as legal and just ; and it is now beginning to extend the means of individual improvement among all the members of its communities more widely than any other civilization ; but the amount of poverty and ignorance which still co-exist by the side of wealth and in telligence, wherever European civiliza tion has been established, show that much remains to be done before the individual happiness of these States can be as com plete and their internal condition as sound as their collective wealth is unbounded and their external aspect is fair and flourishing.
The nations of Europe consider their social system as the standard by which the civilization of other countries must be measured, and they assume as a funda mental principle, that in countries where there is no individual property in land, and where the land is not cultivated, there is no civilization, and that they may there fore seize it. This assumption is true, if we measure civilization by the rule here laid down, for on individual owner ship of land, and the cultivation of land, the whole European system rests. Whe ther land might be advantageously culti vated in common, and the institution of private property in land might be abo lished, is another question, which however has not yet been satisfactorily resolved, and cannot be resolved without destroy ing the present social systems of Europe.
A recent committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the state of New Zealand, have put forth the following doctrine :—" The uncivilized inhabitants of any country. have but a qualified dominion over it, or a right of occupancy only, and until they esta blish amongst themselves a settled form of government, and subjugate the ground to their own uses by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to individuals, not of their own tribe, any portion of it, for the simple reason that they have not them selves any individual property in it." This is not very precise language, but one may collect what it means. Lord Stanley, in a despatch to the governor of New Zealand, dated lath August, 1844, says, " With respect to this doctrine, I am not sure that, were the question one of mere theory, I should be prepared to subscribe, unhesitatingly and without re serve, to the fundamental assumption of the committee ; and I am sure that it would require considerable qualification as applicable to the aborigines of New Zealand. There are many gradations of uncivilized inhabitants,' and practically according to their state of civilization must be the extent of the rights which they can be allowed to claim, whenever the territory on which they reside is oc cupied by civilized communities." After describing the " aborigines of New Hol land " as far below " the New Zealanders in civilization, and being wholly ignorant of or averse to the cultivation of the soil, with no principles of civil government or recognition of private property, and little if any knowledge of the simplest form of religion, or even of the existence of a Supreme being ;" he adds, that " it is impossible to admit, on the part of a population thus situated, any rights in the soil which should be permitted to interfere with the subjugation by Eu ropeans of the vast wilderness over which they are scattered ; and all that can be required by justice, sanctioned by policy, or recommended by humanity, is to en deavour, as civilization and cultivation extend, to embrace the aborigines within their pale, to diffuse religious knowledge among them, to induce them, if possible, to adopt more settled means of providing for their subsistence, and to afford them the means of doing so, if so disposed, by an adequate reservation of lands within the limits of cultivation." The principles laid down by Lord Stanley are those which the civilized nations of Europe have long acted on, sometimes tempering their conquests of uncivilized nations with mercy and humanity, and some times treating them as if they were merely wild beasts that infested the country. The foundations on which even Lord Stanley places the justifica tion of European occupation are not stated with much precision. The real foundations are, the enterprising spirit of Europeans ; the pressure of difficulties at home, which drive men abroad ; the ne cessity of possessing land in their new country, as the basis of that edifice of civilization which they propose to erect after the model of the mother coun try ; and the power to take from those who are too feeble to resist. Europeans admit, and the admission is contained by implication in Lord Stanley's re marks, that the nearer a nation's social system approaches to their own, the safer should it be against unprovoked aggres sion ; but they contend, as Lord Stanley does, that the same self-restraint will not and ought not to be practised in those cases where the social system, or the mode of life, is altogether opposed to those fundamental principles on which European society is constituted.